Thursday, May 25, 2006

The State Chair Race

The Democrats this year are running on a fifty state strategy. But in Texas, that doesn't translate to a 254 county strategy. Why? Texas' population is a bit unevenly distributed, to say the least. In fact, Texas has the distinction of having some of the most and least populated counties in the country.

There are five candidates running for state party chair at the upcoming convention, but it's safe to say that the frontrunners are Boyd Richie and Glen Maxey. Boyd Richie is from Young County, population 17,843. Glen Maxey is from Austin. In the Burnt Orange Report, former Denton County Chair Edra Bogle responds to someone who suggested that Maxey might focus too exclusively on Travis County:

In 2004 the eight counties with the largest populations contained over half of the registered voters in the state. The situation probably still applies. Of these, Travis County was fifth in size, with 555,565 registered voters of the total 12,722,671 registered in the state. Young County had 11,337 registered voters, or 2.04% of those in Travis County and .09% of those in the state...

What makes Mr. Teal believe that a small-town lawyer with a background limited to West Texas even for his college work (except for a couple of years as a young man in Washington, DC) will be able to understand the problems and interests of the large urban counties in the state? Of the African/American population, since it is only 1.32% of the population in Young County with Hispanics at 10.62% and "other" at .81% (2004/05 Texas Almanac, 294)?

Good question.

Denton County is the ninth largest in Texas. But as any candidate with a "D" by their name can tell you, we don't rate very highly in the priorities of either the national or the state party. That probably has something to do with the fact that we're also the second or third most Republican in the state. So a question for Mr. Richie and Mr. Maxey: What are you gonna do about that?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A question for "Mr. Boyd" and "Mr. Richie" that's funny....

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that's what I get for posting after 11:00 p.m. Fixed that.

CouldBeTrue said...

The Edra Bogle letter and the posting of it is contrary to honest debate.

Here's my problem with the Bogle letter: Logically you cannot say Travis County is typical of urban counties while Young County is only representative of Young County.

Bogle goes on to say that Richie has little or no campaign experience. Anyone who has read Richie's bio knows better.

Your post would have been MUCH better focusing on the 254 county strategy and how the leading candidates are positioned.

Your point about Denton helps. I could add that neither Richie nor Maxey seem to understand South Texas. And, as BOR Phillip Martin posted, South Texas was 1/3 of the vote in the Democratic primary.

And, it isn't just rural vs urban. West Texas is different from the Valley is different from east Texas and so on.

Sorry for the rant. It just p***es me off to see blatant dishonesty in the debate. The Bogle letter taints the discussion.

PS: Loved your Lenninger post.

Anonymous said...

couldbetrue

Shoot, that's not a rant. Thoughtful debate and well-reasoned dissent are always welcome. Thanks for taking the time to give us your perspective.

Anonymous said...

" I could add that neither Richie nor Maxey seem to understand South Texas. "

What does that mean? How do they not understand South Texas? And who does for that matter?

"West Texas is different from the Valley is different from east Texas and so on."

I attended the Maxey event Saturday and I will say that Maxey did mention that we needed to provide the tools (his candidate in a box thing) so that Latinos can run and win in West Texas elections.

I think we delegates are going to find that we are not going to be happy with any one chair nominee. I am not impressed with Richie. I feel he does not meet my grassroots view and all the emails that I get now with the "another bigwig endorses Richie" pushes me further away. I think the reason Kinky has such a following is that people are disillusioned with status quo from the Democratic Party and they are not any different than the repubs.

I don't have experience at this sort of thing, but I am putting a stake in the ground on Maxey. He said enough that led me to believe he might make a change and if he is elected, I hope we hold him to that promise.